Hold the phone.

Just like we did in college when we didn’t have enough money to go to the movies, State Auditor, Doug Hoffer  turned over a few sofa cushions in the State’s “telephone lounge” and came up with $300,000 in lost tax dollars!

(I couldn’t resist that opener even though it’s only metaphorically true.)

Focussing on State-issued cellphones, the Auditor’s office found that, just like many households, Vermont isn’t getting the best value for its money from existing plans and patterns of usage.

Even though cellphone service is contracted on behalf of all State agencies by the Dept. of Buildings and General Services, decisions governing cellphone purchases and management of their use is left to the discretion of the individual agencies; and, up until now,  there has been no real oversight or review process to determine if opportunities exist for significant savings.

‘Turns out that there are, indeed!

Some of the 2012 numbers:

.The State had 115 cell phone pools in 2012, and these pools purchased a total of approximately 11 million voice minutes. The audit team found that over 5.1 million minutes went unused (47% of the total).

.Of the 2,899 cell phones with bundled voice and data service plans, 42% used no data or less than 25,000 KB of data per month.  These little used phones cost the State about $272,000.

.Based on the responses of 42 out of 45 surveyed State entities, less than half have policies or procedures for managing cell phones; only 19% had written criteria to guide decisions regarding who should be assigned a cell phone; and about 10% had written policies addressing monitoring cell phone costs.

The long and the short of it is that the Auditor’s Office identified opportunities to save over $300,000. just by tightening-up management of State-issued phones.

Secretary of Adminstration Jeb Spaulding agrees with the Auditor’s findings and plans to use them to develop a statewide management plan for both cell and land lines.

It’s nice to know we have an Auditor on the job who is using his time gainfully; looking for ways through which the State can save money other than by slashing essential services.  

About Sue Prent

Artist/Writer/Activist living in St. Albans, Vermont with my husband since 1983. I was born in Chicago; moved to Montreal in 1969; lived there and in Berlin, W. Germany until we finally settled in St. Albans.